Alignment

Cause of Death

Game Appearances

Voice Actors

Kazumi Mishima (三島 一美,Mishima Kazumi?) neé Hachijō (八条,Hachijō?) is a character in the Tekken series of 3D fighting games. She is the mother of Kazuya Mishima, the daughter-in-law of Jinpachi Mishima, the paternal grandmother of Jin Kazama, and the ex-wife of Heihachi Mishima. Kazumi is introduced in Tekken 7 as one of the new characters as well as one of the main antagonists of the game. She was originally one of the unplayable bosses along with her grandson, Jin prior to the release of the Arcade version.

The existence of the character before Tekken 7 was alluded to twice; the first time was in Heihachi's Tekken 2stage, in which their names ("Heihachi and Kazumi") are written on the floorboard of the temple in the style of Aiaigasa, a romantic expression to show love between couples (the floor carving mark itself was later seen again in the very first trailer of Tekken 7[1]). The second and last time was in the non-canon OVA film Tekken: The Motion Picture, where she was just referred to as "Kazumi" at the time. Her name was also briefly mentioned in Tekken 2's musical score.

Contents

Biography

Personality

Kazumi is described in her introduction gameplay as being a serious and very determined woman who is ready to fight her opponents along with her pet tiger but she is also mysterious, cunning and seductive as seen in her pre-quotes when she calls her ex-husband, Heihachi. Especially when she summons her pet tiger to attack her opponents. Another of her pre-quotes is shown that she was very sad and disappointed implying that she becomes very upset towards her ex-husband for his actions. In one of her win animations, however, she becomes calm and a worrywart and can sense other presences known to her probably her own son, Kazuya who thinks she was dead and she can't accept her fate because of her Devil Gene. Although when she faces her son in a fight, she convinces him to use his powers which is enough to wake up the city despite the latter wanting to gain more power as his own. Another one of her pre-quotes is shown that she formally bows to her opponent and kindly wants to accept her kindest regard. But in one of her win animations where she calmly wonders while walking away to her defeated opponent and becomes impressed with her opponent's moves.

An interesting note is that Kazumi also shares her ex-husband Heihachi's likeness to train their pets to fight their opponents which both had an affinity for animals. In Kazumi's case, she trains her pet tiger which she can summon as she pleases as part of her combo moves, unlike the latter who trains Kuma but not being summoned.

In one of her win animations, she is shown to pet her tiger happily after defeating her opponent. Same goes to her devil form, Devil Kazumi who happily pets her white tiger.

In Tekken 7: Fated Retribution during Akuma's reveal trailer, Kazumi is shown to have an antagonistic side towards her own ex-husband and her own son while she was talking to Akuma which she tells him to kill both of them for their absolute power as Akuma made a promise to "repay her debt" when she was killed. This behavior is also seen in the Story Mode when she becomes hostile towards her husband and sadistically mocks him for marrying her in the first place. This is due to her family's plot to kill him.

It is later revealed that she truly loved her new family, but since the Hachijo Clan have existed to keep over ambitious men like Heihachi monitored and kill them when deemed too dangerous, leaving her emotionally conflicted. As much as she loved her husband and Kazuya, she was prepared to sacrifice them for the good of the world, foreseeing that Kazuya would go down an evil path if she failed her mission. And to that end, she surrendered herself to her Devil form to gain the power to kill Heihachi when he initiated a hostile takeover of the Mishima Household. An act that would end in failure and her death.

In the end, as she is now currently a ghost after her physical body is dead, she herself feels extremely guilty for following her family's order and being the one who caused Heihachi's downfall when he regrettably kills her and inflicted the conflicts on his entire family, as seen in her Japanese website profile.

Appearance

In Kazumi's promotional art, her appearance resembles that of a white Japanese empress. Kazumi is a very beautiful woman, she has long black hair with a full fringe and is tied in a large Japanese bun and brown eyes. She also has a mole on her bottom right eye.

She wears a white short sleeved traditional kimono dress with a red rope tied on each side of her shoulders and a red ribbon attached to the back of her shirt which is connected to the red rope and a gray diamond designed obi which is tucked into her kimono dress. She has an off-white traditional kimono dress which is tied in a white karate belt on her waist and both sleeves of the kimono dress are hanging loose with flower designs on her sleeves and her skirt of her dress. She also wears a white and red fingerless gauntlets with a golden shell design tied in red ribbons on each side underneath her arm and wrists. The interior of her off-white kimono dress is red. She also wears white tabi which is tied in red ribbons and traditional Japanese geta. She also has a Mishima Zaibatsu insignia at the center of her waist while wearing the outfit.

At the back of her hair which is just above the nape, she wears a kanzashi shaped like a gold phoenix. During her transformation to Devil Kazumi, her kanzashi can be seen and heard falling off after she was struck with a lightning strike while she was down on her knees and being engulfed with a white haze. It's possible that her kanzashi acts as a limiter device to restrain her Devil Gene.

In one of the Heihachi's flashbacks, she wears the same traditional kimono dress as in her current attire as her fringes on her hair is parted on the right side.

Also in one of Heihachi's flashbacks, after she gives birth to her son, Kazuya and shows it to her husband in both scenes, Kazumi wears a white short sleeve martial arts gi with a black belt which tucked into her gi, a matching martial arts pants and white sandals. Her long black hair is tied in a low ponytail at the right side.

Story

Kazumi Mishima, the wife of Heihachi Mishima, is well versed in Hachijō Karate. She was childhood friends with her husband Heihachi and eventually, they fell in love. Through their love, they birthed a healthy young boy. Fast forward a few years later, Heihachi would become the head of a huge organization called the Mishima Zaibatsu, with plans to conquer the world.

Kazumi loved Heihachi unconditionally, but at the same time, he was beginning to feel dangerous. In this state, Heihachi threw the world into a war and Kazumi took it upon herself to stop him.

Story Mode

Many years ago, Kazumi Mishima arrived at Jinpachi Mishima's dojo when she was a young girl. As she trained alongside Heihachi, they became fierce rivals and eventually fell in love. Kazumi then gave birth to their son, Kazuya, and she was enamored by and doted on him. But the family's days of happiness came to an end one day when Kazumi collapsed with a fever during training. While Heihachi was treating her, she got up and suddenly attacked him. The next day, Kazumi had no recollection of what she did to her husband and her fever was gone. For a while, Heihachi believed that Kazumi was suffering from a split personality disorder. But on one stormy night, his belief was proven incorrect. At some point, she found an injured Akuma out of nowhere and secretly tending his wound. As Akuma wants to repay her debt to him, Kazumi task him to eliminate Heihachi, and later Kazuya, should she failed and Kazuya falls into a similar path as Heihachi.

While Heihachi was practicing his martial arts moves in the dojo, Kazumi confronted him and proclaimed that he would one day become a threat to the world. As they fought, Kazumi revealed to Heihachi about her reason why she married him in the first place. Her family, the Hachijo Clan wanted to kill him and this was her destiny as she finally assumed in her devil form. After a long and grueling fight, Kazumi attempted to kill Heihachi with a Devil's Beam but missed, prompting her to punch him in the face. But Heihachi retaliated by hitting her groin with a powerful uppercut, seemingly killing her while she reverted back to her human form. After Heihachi checked upon her body and turned to leave, Kazumi transformed into her devil form again to attack him from behind but he grabbed her neck. Desperate, Kazumi warned her husband about the chain of hatred and begged him to release her because of their love with one another. Despite her pleas, Heihachi noticed it was a trap and stated to her that she was no longer the Kazumi that he knew as he immediately snapped her neck, killing her. As Kazumi lay dead on the floor, Heihachi shed a single tear over the loss of his wife. Her death also leads her son, Kazuya to take revenge against Heihachi for killing his mother. It is actually revealed that Kazumi’s death was the same year as Heihachi’s war against Jinpachi.

Kazumi's story and death are recounted several years later by Heihachi as he is revealing to an investigative journalist about the dark secrets of the Mishima family.

Gameplay

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Kazumi has a combination between both Heihachi and Kazuya's moves as she gains both their Demon Slayer and Flash Punch Combo. Her own moves include vicious punches and hand chops, and another skill where she flurries her opponent with several punches as well as knocking her opponent with both a roundhouse kick and a straight kick. Her unique ability is to summon her pet tiger which can be done during a combo or individually, it is also seen after Kazumi performs an uppercut along with her tiger. She shares her ex-husband's Hell Axle but has an additional downward kick and his unblockable move but it's not as strong as his. She also has a taunt where she calmly pets her tiger during the fight.

Kazumi's (and Devil Kazumi's) Rage Art move involves stunning her opponent with a single punch to the gut, knocking him/her with an uppercut, unleashing a single punch and a kick with two consecutive punches followed by another kick in mid-air and finally slamming the opponent with a heavy blow on his/her chest before landing on the ground.

Kazumi is a rushdown character, pummelling her opponents with effective, delayable pokes that she can loop over and over, forcing the opponent to challenge her. Her pokes also move her forward, keeping her close to the opponent.

While she is at her best up close and personal, she has an incredible approach tool. She is good at forcing opponents towards the wall, as some of her moves have significant pushback. Finally, she has good wall carry, good okizeme, varied power crush moves (one hits high and is safe, while the other hits mid and has good damage), fast tracking moves, good options when the opponent's back is against the wall, including, but not limited to, two command grabs (one of which is unbreakable) that splats the opponent to the wall, and finally, a relatively low execution requirement.

However, she also has notable weaknesses. Firstly, she has mediocre combo damage. Also, her fastest launching move - a "hop knee" - is significantly lacking in range, making it whiff against moves with a lot of pushback. Finally, Kazumi's lows are mediocre. Her best lows leave her standing, making her vulnerable to counter hits.

All in all, Kazumi is a very solid character that has the ability to bully, frustrate, and break down opponents with her pokes.

Fighting Style

Kazumi's fighting style is Hachijo-Style Karate, but mixes with Mishima-Style Karate. She utilizes a strong combination of the two styles, to the degree she was a threat to Heihachi in his prime.

Akuma - Indebted to her by unknown circumstances after she saved his life in a certain critical situation he was in. Promised Kazumi to kill Heihachi and Kazuya for the two men's quest for absolute power.

Azazel - As revealed to be the original carrier of Devil Gene, his demonic gene is carried over to Kazumi and her entire Hachijo clansmen.

Trivia

General:

Kazumi's name translates to (一 kazu) "one"; (美 mi) "beauty". The surname of all members of the Mishima family 三島 (Mishima) mean "third island".

Kazumi's maiden name is Hachijo prior to her marriage with Heihachi.

Hachijo (八条) translates to (八 hachi) "eight"; (条 jō) "article".

Kazumi and Jun's sons (Kazuya and Jin, respectively) have names which are variants of their mothers' names.

Interestingly, Kazuya also cares for his mother Kazumi much like his son Jin who also cares deeply to his mother Jun and both men are showing their vengeful side towards their murderers. In Kazuya's case, it was his own father Heihachi who kills his mother.

In Tekken: The Motion Picture, it is stated that Kazumi died giving birth to Kazuya. However, she is still seen carrying him in the picture with her and Kazuya (as a baby).

Kazumi Mishima is the first and only known confirmed female who carries the Devil Gene (while Unknown, the female final boss of the non-canonical Tekken Tag Tournament and its sequel, has the "devil gene" mark on her upper right arm, it's currently unconfirmed if she is actually a Devil Gene user).

Kazumi carrying the Devil Gene was first confirmed in the San Diego Comic Con 2014 trailer of Tekken 7.

According to Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada, Kazuya was not the first Mishima family member to make contact with the devil, and that Kazuya and Jin both believe it started with Jinpachi but only Heihachi really knows who it was. Harada also pointed out that neither Jinpachi, Heihachi nor Lars possess the Devil Gene. This hints towards Kazumi being the first to have started the Devil Gene bloodline coming from her family.

Kazumi (through her devil form) is also the second female final boss in the series, the first being Unknown in the Tekken Tag Tournament games (although, in Tekken 2, if the player plays as Devil, Angel is the final boss).

Kazumi bears a slight resemblance to Eliza, because of her pale skin and part of her hairstyle (mostly the front and sides).

In Tekken: Kazuya's Revenge, Heihachi reveals that the amnesia Kazuya suffered and him being sold to the Minister was all part of his plan to rid Kazuya of his mother's "soft heart and weakness". Though this is non-canonical.

Even though her fighting style has her family name on it, it's strongly look like just Mishima fighting style as she trained from young age in Mishima house with no reason mentioned why Mishima clan agree to do that.

Kazumi is the first final boss in the series to be already deceased by the time of the game present events.

Kazumi is the final boss of the game. The first round is against her in human form and the second round is against her devil form.

Her final boss transformation is very similar to the nature that of which Jun Kazama is fought during the first round before transforming into Unknown in the second round in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

While assuming in her devil form in Story Mode, Kazumi is able to regenerate health when she was damaged by Heihachi much like both Jun and Unknown did in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

In her boss intro pose, she is riding her pet tiger before facing her opponent.

The way she sits on her pet tiger is similar to Jun when she sits on a horse from her ending in Tekken 2.

Kazumi's pet tiger seems to be able to change between her human form and her devil form. In her former form, it is a normal tiger while in her latter form, it is a white tiger.

In the final stage background of the game, Kazumi's eyes from her CG art changes from brown to red before facing the player at the final stage.

Her alternate color palette is black and the flower designs are now gold.

Kazumi has a total of eight pre-intro quotes and four win quotes in the game including her intro pose as the final boss of the game.

In one of Kazumi's moves, she uppercuts her opponent along with her pet tiger. As Harada jokingly says that her uppercut is just like Street Fighter's Sagat who uses the Tiger Uppercut.

Eventually, Sagat would soon gain his own pet tiger in Street Fighter V, though not used in the battle.

One of Kazumi's intro quotes is a more polite version of Devil Jin's intro quote (i.e. Kazumi has "Kyoufu wo oshiete sashiagemasu." while Devil Jin has the more violent "Kyoufu wo oshiete yarou.")

In Kazumi's final stage intro, her CG art has replaced by her devil form, Devil Kazumi's CG art as her alternate final stage intro.

Since her status is officially "cursed", according to Harada that Kazumi and her pet tiger are ghosts due to being killed by her ex-husband Heihachi and her physical form comes from her devil form, Devil Kazumi which she conceals from her human form and the way she summons her pet tiger is confirmed as a spirit.